Summer in the city
ALBANY — Celebrating their 35th anniversary, Albany’s free 2024 Alive at Five Summer Concert Series returns to Albany. Eight weeks of artists will perform at Jennings Landing from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Thursday nights, with each night offering a different theme.
“It’s a very diverse lineup,” said Keith Morales, Deputy Director of the Office of Cultural Affairs. “This is something that we’ve been working on for the past few years to make it more diverse. Every week is different music. Some people may know the acts; a lot know at least one, two, or three of the acts. Hopefully they’ll learn a new act!”
“I think it highlights how wide and talented our local scene is,” said Sydney Worthley. “We have so many incredible local musicians in our area. It’s an incredibly unique place that, I would say, is unlike a lot of other local music scenes. It’s a very welcoming community with other musicians as well.”
Opening the series on June 6 is Pride Night with Let’s Sing Taylor (A Live Band Experience) and Worthley. Let’s Sing Taylor (A Live Band Experience) celebrates Swift with faithful and dynamic covers of her award-winning and beloved catalog.
Worthley, who performed at Alive at Five two years ago with Cassidy Pope, will incorporate deep cut and well-known Swift songs together with her original music for her set. “It’s such an honor,” said Worthley. “I’ve always appreciated Taylor Swift’s music, and it’s always been a big part of my music influence.”
She will also be debuting songs for the first time off her new album and passing out early CDs to festival attendees a month before the July release. “I’m excited to be doing that for the first time on this stage,” she added.
June 13 is Classic Rock Night, featuring classic rock band Dokken, as they bring with them their iconic music that is generationally acclaimed. Local band Hark will be joining them, as the band features a lineup of dynamic local musicians and songs.
On June 20, Latin Night is returning to the concert series. Tito Puente Jr. is carrying on his father’s legacy with his own special talent, and Bronte Roman will be bringing an 8–10 piece band with her for her genre-bending, dynamic Latin-Pop set.
With a critically acclaimed catalog of work that deals with love, self-reflection, and loss, Vanessa Carlton will take the stage for Pop Night on June 27. Albany-based band Canella will join Carlton during the evening of pop, set to perform their high-energy set.
“I’m so excited to open for Vanessa Carlton. She’s an amazing artist, and it’s an honor that we were asked to play it,” said Juliana Castrillon, the lead singer of Canella.
This is Canella’s Alive at Five debut, a band born out of what Castrillon described as ‘lots of love’. They will be performing music off their album, ‘Can’t Make You Smile’, along with new music from their upcoming EP.
“This is a great opportunity to play on a big stage and see big acts in the city of Albany,” said Castrillon. “I feel like big stages allow for more community, bigger crowds, and the fact that it’s all ages. It’s more of an accessible platform, and that’s really exciting.”
On July 11, KRS-One, DJ Show, and OHZE pay tribute to Hip-Hop Night by performing classic and contemporary hip-hop from their extensive catalogs, which have played everywhere from arenas to the radio.
July 18 is Reggae Night with Third World and Upstate Reggae Possie. As a nine-time Grammy-nominated band that is one of the longest-lived and most acclaimed reggae bands of all time, Third World is one of Jamaica’s most consistently popular crossover acts among international audiences. During their set, each of the four singers in Upstate Reggae Possie will utilize their unique style to combine soul, dance, and harmony.
Alive At Five continues with Indie Rock Night, as The Record Company and Sirsy are scheduled to perform. The Record Company combines their personalities into what they call a ‘brotherhood’ that connects through their music. Originally from Upstate New York, Sirsy will present their soulful and powerhouse music that has been heard everywhere, from the TV show “Shameless” to the NFL, HBO, MTVu, and PBS.
Funk Night closes out the festival on August 1 with Galactic, featuring Jelly Joseph. With 10 albums, over 2,000 shows, and tens of millions of streams, the quintet of Galactic will be joined by Anjelika “Jelly” Joseph. The four-piece band Hilltop from Albany joins them to close the festival, as the band will offer carefully crafted originals, improvisation, and fun, diverse covers.
In addition to the live music, vendors will be selling crafts and food. All the tips in the Beer Garden go directly to the various nonprofits over the eight weeks, which include the American Cancer Society, the Interfaith Partnership for the Homeless, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, and the United Way of the Greater Capital Region.
This year is also special for early-arriving Alive At Five attendees. Each week has a different, limited-quantity giveaway for the attendees that reflects the summertime festivities.
“We want to honor the people that come early and say thank you for coming early to support the local bands and local vendors before the big rush of people comes,” said Morales. “That’s something new that we haven’t done before that we’re excited about.”
“It helps people get through the summer,” said Morales regarding the concert series. “To know that for these eight weeks, you have something to do in Albany— people are excited!”
“This is a great experience and a great opportunity for musicians to expand and go beyond,” said Castrillon. “It’s fabulous. I hope that they keep doing these if there are more ideas and the budget. There’s never too much, I don’t think. There’s so much talent in the 518. We will never run out of musicians to showcase.”
“It’s a really special thing that local musicians get to pair up with these headliners that they’ve never met before and open themselves up to a new audience that wouldn’t have found them otherwise,” said Worthley. “From the audience’s perspective, it’s a free event, and it’s in the summer. You get to bring your friends and family and see live music and original live music as well. It’s a very rare opportunity to have that, and Albany is a very special place for putting that on.”
